


The Gamesters of Neo-Atlan

by Sophonisba



Series: Zophonisbeion [14]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e05 Suspicion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-23
Updated: 2011-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-23 00:06:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/244067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophonisba/pseuds/Sophonisba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"'We are going to go play Wraith,' Jinto Irrylar said..."</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gamesters of Neo-Atlan

**Author's Note:**

> The name of Hackenschleimer I got from Gordon Korman; lovely to say, isn't it? Neo-Atlan was originally the name of the association of villains in _Nadia of the Seas of Wonder_.

The evening of the tenth day that their settlement was raised anew on their new homeland, the days were longer than they had been (though not so long as they had been in many of the sites on Athos) and people could relax and lie back in the long-shadowed golden low sun of --

"Atlantis," Wex's father said.

"Atlantis is the City of the Ancestors," Daran's Aunt Nirra argued. "This is not the City."

"And thank the Ancestors for that," Wex's mother said tartly. "I do not know how any of them can breathe shut up in towers like that. Poor Teyla."

"It was her choice," Charin Emmagan observed, "and the bargain was hers to make. And I believe that nice young Lieutenant Ford of hers -- " the crone's tongue gave the alien title an alveolar lilt -- "named this world 'Atlantica.'"

"Teyla told me that it had been decreed that Lieutenant Ford was not allowed to name anything, ever," Wex's other mother said. "It sounded as if it were a household joke already, and a good omen for the future."

"Sergeant Markham spoke of this world as Neo-Atlan," Jinto's father offered. "The City of the Ancestors was once upon the Mother-earth, after all."

"We are going to go play Wraith," Jinto Irrylar said in the moment of silence that followed that remark. "We'll not be farther than the creek or the hill."

"Be back before dark," his father told him, "and make sure all of you have your whistles, just in case."

"We are none of us stupid," Jinto rolled his eyes, one hand going to the piercing bone whistle hanging from a thong round his neck.

"Take Tallit with you," Geron Ossaring said suddenly.

Jinto frowned -- Geron's daughter was younger than their usual crowd, and would doubtless need allowances -- but, after exchanging a glance with his father, he nodded and gestured for the girl to follow him and his friends.

"I am Major Sheppard," he announced as soon as they were well under the cover of the trees, leaning against one with his hips cocked nearly perpendicular to his upper spine.

"You are always Major Sheppard," Wex said.

"Am not. I let you be Major Sheppard once."

"Yes, when you were Teyla," Wex pointed out inarguably.

"Well, I am still Major Sheppard, because I called him first."

"Well, I am Lieutenant Ford," Wex declared, pulling a crumpled black cap with a bill from his pocket and setting it firmly on his head.

"Where did you get that?" Kerel demanded.

"Lieutenant Ford traded it and another one to Amma for mending-work, earlier today," Wex explained. "He said that they now have very many, but soon they will trade them again for other things."

"Are you going to trade your hat?" Daran asked.

Wex grabbed onto his cap with both hands. "Are you feeling well? It is a wonderful hat, well-made and useful, and just like Lieutenant Ford's."

"Very well," Jinto took charge. "I am Major Sheppard. Wex is Lieutenant Ford."

"I am Teyla," Tallit proclaimed.

"No, you are not," Jinto told her. "You cannot be Teyla. You are too little."

"Well, Teyla is kind of little, compared to some..." Kerel always had to push, these days; the girl couldn't be satisfied with simple answers.

"You still can't be Teyla," Jinto denied. The other three boys nodded, solemnly.

Tallit Ossaring, daughter of Teyla, pouted.

"And, Daran," Jinto told the other boy solemnly, "you can be the Wraith." He ceremoniously handed over the Wraith mask, made with care Athosian years ago and painstakingly refurbished two annu ago by Jinto himself.

The taller boy accepted it, equally solemnly, and raised it to his face.

The Wraith menaced the group with its free hand.

Kerel, Eyving, and Tallit turned and ran. The Wraith, wobbly on Daran Attaven's mid-growth-spurt legs, pursued.

The major and lieutenant, after a brief consultation, pursued, aiming their automatic-guns (cleverly disguised as fallen branches) and providing the sound effects by way of their own teeth and tongues.

"Tackatackatackatackatacka...."

 

The Wraith had got Kerel, who was loudly and vociferously indignant over the fact that it should have got Tallit, had the small girl not jumped twice her height into the air, caught a tree branch, and managed somehow or another to clamber atop it (and then to another once the Wraith had thought to use the advantage of Daran's height and long arms).

The Wraith sighed, heavily, and put its hand to Kerel's breast. Kerel yelped, and was told "You're being eaten, silly girl!"

The silly girl in question sulkily fell silent, just as the pursuers at last caught up with the Wraith. The lieutenant flung an earth-clod.

"What was that?" Daran demanded.

"That was a bomb," its hurler explained impatiently. "It went boom and knocked you over backwards."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

This edifying argument was interrupted by the major, who walked nearly up to the Wraith and shot him with gleefully gruesome sound effects.

The Wraith jumped, squawked, and wrested the gun from the major's hand by main force.

"Hang tight, sir!" the lieutenant called, ignoring the half-drained corpse as she repeated "Hang... tight?", obviously turning the words around to see whether, having made individual sense, they had meaning in combination.

"How goes it?" Wex's mother called through the trees.

"What?" said nearly everyone, including Eyving, who'd just circled round into the clearing again.

"Hatcha!" Tallit dropped out of the tree onto the Wraith's back.

 

"Nnnghh," Daran groaned, turning his face into the dirt. The Wraith mask lay facedown on the ground some fingers away from his ear.

"I am Doctor Kusa'gi," Tallit proclaimed, "and I landed my invis'ble puddlyjumper on the Wraith."

"She can't do that, can she?" said Eyving.

"Doctor Kusanagi did just that, this past tenday," Tallit's father told them. "I had the tale from Lieutenant Ford, and he from Hackenschleimer."

"Be that as it may," said Wex's mother, "it is time for your game to be over. Climb off Daran, Tallit, and let the poor boy breathe."

Tallit obediently climbed off. Daran slid his hands under himself, started to push himself up, and collapsed with a high choked keen.

Both the adults dropped to their knees and began examining the boy.

"Should I -- " Jinto began, holding his bone whistle out at the end of its thong.

"I do not think anything is actually broken, thank the Ancestors," Wex's mother said quickly. "There is no need for the whistles, but one of you had better go back to the settlement and get them to bring a stretcher -- he should not walk all that way."

Jinto's eyes flicked from one member of the group to another.

"Wex," he said.

"Exactly," Wex's mother said absently. "Go tell your father and mother to bring a stretcher and come quickly."

Wex dashed off, a "yes, Amma" drifting back to them.

Tallit, blinking fiercely, had started to sniffle, and her father gathered her into his arms and began crooning to her.

"Hey," Jinto said awkwardly. "That was a great game. You should be the Wraith more often, you were really good at it."

"Speak for yourself," Kerel snorted.

"Think he was," Daran said, half-muffled by the dirt.

"Ssh, ssh," Wex's mother told him.

"Let's do this without the horrible pain next time, shall we?" Jinto said, feeling the back of his throat swell up for no good reason. "And hey, Tallit, you can be Teyla next time."

"Really?" Tallit choked, sobs awkwardly breaking off.

"Really," Jinto promised.

"Really truly?"

"Really," Daran panted, "truly."

Geron had grown very stiff for some reason.

"Geron, peace. She is an Ossaring." Wex's mother turned back to her nephew-by-marriage. "Hold still. We do not want to have to turn you over, but we shall if your lungs need it."

"Thank you," Daran breathed, and Jinto lurched forward and picked up the Wraith mask, carefully, carefully dusting it off, as befitted an old treasure.


End file.
